Shop and warehouse fixture for storing goods.



.A. l. WATTS.

SHOP AND WAREHOUSE FIXTURE FOR STORING GOODS.

' Arrucmon man MAR. I. 191s.

1 ,285,854. Patented Nov. 26, 1918 ift-9.2. 129.1. g

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AL FRED I. warms,r

OF OXTON, BIRKENHEAD, ENGLAND.

` SHOP AND WAREHOUSE FIXTURE FOR S'IORING GOODS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application iiledliarch 7, 1916. i Serial No. 82,620.

To all whom t may concern.' Y

Be it known that I, ALFRED IsAAc WATTS, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Oxton, Birkenhead, in the county of Chester, in the Kingdom of England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Shop and Warehouse Fixtures for Storing (roods, of which the following is a specification.v

Shop and warehouse iixtures for storing hosiery, shirts, underwear, laces, ribbonsand other dry goods, usually consist of upright members placed at intervals along the walls of the shopl orwarehouse or in otherposltion, these lupright members supporting va series of shelves or compartments which are utilized for storing the goods. It is usual to have the goods packed in boxes or parceled up in paper and placed on the shelves. This entails a lot of labor in showing the contents of the boxes or parcels and also 1n repacking, and furthermore lpossesses the disadvantage that the goods are-not visible until unpacked, while if the goods are placed on the shelves without being boxed or parceled up they are liable to get shop soiled.

It is therefore the aim andl object of my present invention to produce a new or improved shop and warehouse fixture which will avoid the necessity of boxing or parceling up the goods, but which will nevertheless keep the goods fresh and clean, and make them or enable them to be made visible to both assistants and customers.

With this object in view I provide the front openings of the compartments formed by the shelves with a series of glazed sashes or panels which slide in grooves in the-risers so that these sashes or panels will inclose the front openings, or may be moved in front of one another when it is desired to gain access to the compartments. l

Hitherto it has been proposed to provide the pigeon hole compartments of cabinets for filing documents or other articles with a series of sliding doors which were adapted to close the `compartments or to be moved either upwardly or downwardly to give access to suchl compartments. In one arrangement, these doors involved the use of a plurality of separated grooves in the risers, the said grooves slanting outwardly and downwardly land forming guides for the doors whichfhad pins projecting from each corner engaging in the grooves. When the compartments were closed ,fthe doors lay flush with each other with their fronts in perpendicular alinement but to open a compartment the lower part of this door was swung outward,wthe pins at the lower corners entering the slanting grooves through transverse slots cut in the risers, the other pins acting as trunnions, whereupon the door assumed a. slanting position which allowed it to slide downwardly to the bottom of the grooves, which, however, extended only to about mid height of the compartment immediately below; or the doors were arranged to slide upwardly by means of grooves slanting outwardly andY upwardly insteadof outwardly and downwardly.

My invention, which is designed to overcome these disadvantages is characterized in that the risers in front ofthe set back front edges of the shelves, are provided with perpendicular grooves or runways for the sashes or panels to slide in,and in thatthe said grooves or runways are widened considerably opposite the front of each compartment to enable a sash to be movedlaterally inward to close the front of such compartment, or to be moved laterally outward and thenslid perpendicularly into a position in front of and parallel with a sash immediately below or above.. By this arrangement the vuse of a plurality of `slanting grooves is avoided, and the sashes can be opened or closed without .inclining them from the perpendicular position.

In the accompanying drawings Figure l is a front view of my shop and warehouse fixture; y `Fig. 2 `is a vertical cross front part thereof; and

Fig. 3 is `a fragmentary horizontal cross section.

section of the Patented Nov. 26, rais.V

'Figa 4- is a fragmentary horizontal cross Y i section showing a slight modification.

In carrying -my invention into practical eii'ect, -I vprovide as before upright members or risers A which support the Vshelf members By on which the goods are to be placed, and these upright members extend forwardly beyond .the front edges of the shelves, in other words the front` edges C of the shelves B are set back fromthe front edges D of the upright members or risers A,

soy that the opposed sides of these upright members form guides between which glazedy sashes or panels E canslide. A plurality of these sashes or panels E are locatedl between each pair of uprights or risers A.

Thus if there are ten shelves B or compartments F superposed one above the other there would be ten sashes or panels E between each pair of uprights or risers A, these sashes or panels being adapted to respectively close the front openings of the shelves or compartments F. in which position they lic one above the other in the same vertical plane, or they can be respectively lowered to give access to any of the shelves or compartments in which position the lowered sash or panel lies in front of the sash immediately below.

If desired the opposing sides of the up rights or risers may be provided with grooves or rabbets L (Fig. 4e) .for the sashes or panels l to slide in, in which case the grooves are widened consiilerably opposite to the front of each shelf or compartment. to enable the sashes to be moved laterally inward against the abutment itl. to close the same, or when required to obtain access to the shelf, to enable a sash to be moved laterally outward against the abutment G and then slid down the grooves to a point below the level of the shelf, that lis in front of the sash that closes the shelf immediately below. The said grooves L being of the same depth throughout their length, enables any ofthe sashes ,li to be brought outward (from the closed position) into the groove, and slid down io a point in front of the sash immediately below. As a rule however it is preferably not to actually groove the uprights or risers A, but as shown in Figs. l. 2 and 3 to have bead or pilaster G on the front edge of each of such uprights or risers A, which together with the set back front edges C of the shelves i3, form a. runway for the sashes E to slide 'in and be guided In this way the cost of grooving the entire length of the uprights or risers A may be dispensed with. Beads or strips H set back somewhat from the front edges C ofy the shelves. form abutments for the sashes or panels E to rest against when in the closed position and enable a dust proof joint to be obtained.

Flach sash E carries a pane of glass I by which light is admitted to the shelves or compartments F, and permits of the goods stored therein to be visible, even when the sashes are in the closed position; or when access is to be. had to the goods, any individual sash E can be lowered to temporarily open the shelf or compartment F. Metallic stops J are provided-at the upper edge of each sash E. which project inward so as to come against the shelf B or a recess K therein when the sash has been lowered to such a position. that the top of the sash is flush with the shelf B or bottom of the compartment F). If desired however the sashes may be provided with opaque panels instead Y of being glazed,

In order to keep the sashes or panels in their closed positions, some means may be provided to lock them therein. This may consist of any suitable locking device such as M, or the closeness of the t of thc sashes or panels in the closed position, may hold the panels in place, and prevent them from dropping or working loose. Lifts or handles such as N are attached to the sashes preferably at the Lipper part.

When it is desired to open a shelf or co1npartment F, its sash panel E is pulled forward by the lifts out of the recess at thc front of the compartment F, until it abuts against the bead or pilaster G at the front of the uprights or risers A. It is then dropped downwardly, such sash naturally following the direction of the beads Gr until the stops J come against the shelf B and prevent any further descent. It now lies in front of the sash panel E of the shelf or compartment immediately below and parallel thereto. To close tlie shelf or compartment again, the sash panel E is raised by the lifts until the stops J come into Contact with the top of the compartment F, whereupon the sash panel is pushed inward and brought into vertical alinement with the other sash panels E, the said sash panels resting against the beads H as hereinbefore described. To open the bottom compartment F its sash or panel E is pulled forward and then lifted so as to lieV in front 0f the sash E immediately above, and is supported in its raised position bythev turn buttons 0. Thisconsists of a piece oflmetal or other ma terial preferably oblong and turning on a central pivot or pin secured to the shelf on the underside. if this button O be turned into a. position at right angles to that shown in the drawings, it projects into the groove or runway and so supports the said shaft in its raised position. The bottom sash is` not provided with stops J.

It will be seen therefore that by this invention any sash panel E can be opened or closed independently of the others. Any sticking of the sash panels is prevented, and absolute freedom of movement is secured. The contents of each shelf or compartment are or can be rendered visible, and as the sash panels close the fronts of the shelves or compartments in a dust proof' manner, the goods can be stored without any covering paper, or without any packing in cardboard boxes.

It is believed that the features of construction, advantages and operation of the iixture will now be apparent. It is to be understood that the sashes or panels (except the top one) when pulled forward out of the recesses at the front of the compartments F may be slid upwardly (instead of being dropped downwardly) in which case the s topsJ would be affixed to the lower edge of 13o the sashes, and the sashes would be supported in their raised positions as by turnbuttons. The top sash however would be moved downwardly to open it. rIhen again in many cases it is convenient to provide each compartment F with trays P or other receptacles superposed one on top of each other, in which case the front edges of the trays when in situ are set back from the front edges of the shelves, such front edges forming the abutments for the sashes E to abut against, so that in that case the use of the abutments or 'beads I-I is dispensed with.

I declare that what I claim is:

A shop or warehouse xture for storing goods, comprising in combination upright members or risers, shelf members supported thereby, the front edges of which are set back from the front edges of the risers, sashes or panels located between the risers, perpendicular abutments located forwardly beyond the front edges of the shelves which together with the front set back edges of the of the compartment or to be moved laterally,

outwardly 'and slid perpendioularly into a position in front of and parallel with the adjoining sash, and locking means for holding the sash in its inward position between the shelves.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name this 18th day of February, 1916, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALFRED I. WATTS.

Witnesses:

G. C. DYMOND, JOHN J. LEARY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the "Gommiuioner o! Patents, Washington, D. C. 

